Friday’s State Department of Health report showed the Big Island with 117 active cases–hard as that might be to comprehend after the island went for 5 months with few total cases and few people with active cases simultaneously.  Mayor Harry Kim said last Monday that he has hired Premier Medical Group to do testing around the island to try to track and slow down the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Premier Medical Group will provide free COVID-19 testing in Hilo today at Prince Kuhio Shopping Center at the Ohuohu Street parking lot (across from Macy’s Menswear Department wing), and at Waikoloa Elementary and Intermediate School.

Both testings are drive through and will go from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m.

(Photo is drive-through testing by Ali’i Health Center)

No insurance is necessary to be tested, but please bring your insurance card if you have one.

Please be sure to wear a face covering at all times, and observe social distancing.

People around the island are urged to get tested if they have been at large gatherings, especially if not everybody was wearing a mask and not staying away from each other.   It is not necessary to have active symptoms, but if you do have symptoms or believe you have been in close contact with somebody with COVID-19, consider getting tested.

It is better to be tested and know if there’s a possibility you might expose others than not to know.  There is no stigma to testing positive, but if one does test positive, then they know to isolate themselves.  State Department of Health has said if somebody cannot safely isolate in their own home, State DOH has alternate lodging options.

One of the biggest concerns is whether the number of cases on the Big Island will fill up and overtax our island’s three acute care hospitals.  Hilton Raethal of the Healthcare Association of Hawaii has said hospitals on O’ahu are so overtaxed they are shifting patients from one hospital to another to try to avoid overrunning capacity at any one hospital.  And he said a big issue is that more cases could overwhelm not necessarily the bed capacity, but the number of staff needed to care for the patients.

As of Friday at 1 p.m., Hilo Medical Center had 16 patients hospitalized, 3 more than on Thursday.  All COVID-19 patients are isolated from others.  Kona Hospital as of Friday at 1 p.m. had zero cases.

Queen’s North Hawaii Community Hospital in Waimea, after two days ago confirming zero cases in the hospital, said Friday via a spokesperson that it is not going to release the number of patients it has,  as that might violate patient privacy, despite assurances that there is no request for names, ages, genders, ethnicities, and races of any patients.

Other hospitals are frank about their COVID-19 situation.  Queen’s Medical Center on O’ahu, under the same umbrella as North Hawaii Community Hospital, has had officials publicly stating how many COVID-19 patients it has in the hospital (100, two days ago).

Maui Health CEO Michael Rembis spoke to Hawaii News Now’s Mahealani Richardson about the status of Maui Memorial Hospital.  He was frank about today’s one death,  talked about how many workers have COVID-19 (38), and reviewed what the facility is doing to stay safe and also to be able to handle both COVID-19 and non COVID-19 patients.  Click here for a link to that story.

Photo is Hawaii County firefighters helping with screening at a COVID-19 test event at Old Airport Park earlier this year.